AIRLINES: Back to Subsidies?

It was a sad day for private enterprise.
For the better part of 15 years, the two giant U.S. international
airlines, Pan American and TWA, have been competing on roughly equal
terms with a host of nationalized, subsidized foreign carriers ranging
from Air France to Air India. But last week both Pan Am and TWA applied
to the Civil Aeronautics Board for the first subsidies they themselves
have received since the 1950s. In separate petitions, the two lines
contended, in effect, that without federal help they will go broke
combating two trends:...